This weekend the California Republican Party is holding its biannual convention in San Francisco!

As such, I’m at the convention (actually sitting in a Board of Directors Meeting) so blogging (from me) will be light…… Read More

I received quite a few emails about who controls the California Republican party. Many have mistaken uprisings and demonstrations with control. The main question people ask is how do can Conservatives get more control of the Party?

The short answer is run for office.

The next two weeks Republicans will be running for various Assembly, State Senate and Congressional races. Obviously in seats that are Republican there is little trouble filling those seats. However, those with heavy Democratic registrations face a different story. So why run in these long shot or impossible seats. There are several reasons.

Of course, you get free publicity. Newspapers do interviews with all the candidates. Any money that is raised goes to mail and sign raising your name identification. You can use this in local races.

You get to talk about issues you care about. In some district you can get Democrats to spend money against you. Campaigning helps GOP turnout.

And very importantly, if you are the nominee you get a seat on the local AND… Read More

I had a chance to meet Elizabeth Hill, the Legislative Analyst, last December at the joint legislative retreat of Senate and Assembly Republicans. She is a remarkably pleasant person, and clearly someone who has a grasp of state fiscal issues. That said, I have to say that I was extremely disappointed at the "Alternative Budget" that her office released yesterday, that is the source of so many MSM news stories today. Why the disappointment? Because Hill in a very antiseptic way is looking at the gap between projected state incoming and projected state spending, and is making proposals to "fill the gap" with a combination of spending cuts and de facto tax increase (by slashing existing tax credits) and proposing more fee increases. In other words, Hill is siding solidly on the side of "growing" state government to deal with what we have said all along is an over-spending problem. If you go back over the last few budgets, you will see that there has been a *massive* increase in state spending, that is the root of the problem. It is completely unfair to… Read More

According to the LAO, the only way out of our budget mess is raising taxes. And here’s another shocker—the Democrats think her recommendations are BRILLANT! Oh, and so does George Skelton.

None of this is a surprise. Nor is the fact that the budget gap continues to grow. It all comes down to Gov. Schwarzenegger.

Many of us here on the pages of the Flashreport have been disappointed with many decisions that have come out of the Governor’s Office in the past couple of years. We’re not happy with the people—effectively Gov. Gray Davis’ top staffers—with whom the governor has filled his office (at the same time, there some good people continue to work on the governor’s behalf, both in and out of the horseshoe). But the real test of the governor’s leadership—and his ability to stand by his word to the people of… Read More

I had a chance to meet Elizabeth Hill, the Legislative Analyst, last December at the joint legislative retreat of Senate and Assembly Republicans. She is a remarkably pleasant person, and clearly someone who has a grasp of state fiscal issues. That said, I have to say that I was extremely disappointed at the "Alternative Budget" that her office released yesterday, that is the source of so many MSM news stories today. Why the disappointment? Because Hill in a very antiseptic way is looking at the gap between projected state incoming and projected state spending, and is making proposals to "fill the gap" with a combination of spending cuts and de facto tax increase (by slashing existing tax credits) and proposing more fee increases. In other words, Hill is siding solidly on the side of "growing" state government to deal with what we have said all along is an over-spending problem. If you go back over the last few budgets, you will see that there has been a *massive* increase in state spending, that is the root of the problem. It is completely unfair to… Read More

The cold weather is thwarting my office Roll Call, Politico and Hill delivery so today’s potpourri of news, gossip and blog items comes from elsewhere.

The "Supremes" had two interesting rulings, among others, yesterday including a near-unanimous 8-1 decision regarding liability reform in the drug / med product area and unanimous decision allowing 401k participants the right to legal action in certain cases–good to see a broad, "bipartisan" consensus on tort-reform related issues (Justice Ginsberg was the lone dissent). Both from the New York Times, here and here. Safe to assume most of us read Drudge and so I won’t link to the other big story from the Times today. The paper also editorializes with its beef about beef and the Chino packinghouse making news this week.

The Hill… Read More

There’s a full-blown fight in San Diego between common sense and enviro extremists over a new San Diego Gas & Electric power line called the Sunrise Powerlink… a project thatsbeen winding its way through the state approval process for more than two years.The project is a much needed power line that will help keep the lights on and import clean energy from solar, wind and geothermal projects in the Imperial Valley .This should be a no-brainer for the global warming crowd that’s been screaming for more green power. Yea, right…that would require actual support for a piece of infrastructure that keeps our state moving forward. We’re about to enter the final rounds of this prize fight and its time to jump into the ring. The CA Public Utilities Commission will be in San Diego on Feb. 25… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: Knowing that FR correspondent Matt Rexroad has a longstanding professional relationship with Senate Republican Leader-Elect Dave Cogdill, I asked him if he would share something about the man with FR readers… – Flash]

Senator Dave Cogdill is someone many of you will learn about in the coming months. As the Senate Republican Leader-elect he will be making headlines for all sorts of political and public policy reasons.

The problem is that many of these stories will ignore the best part of the Senator. He is probably one of the best people to ever serve in the Legislature. He is truly a good person.

This is a guy that is not and will not be a cheerleader. He is thoughtful, calm, and respectful.

When Senator Dave Cox was the Assembly Republican Leader in 2002, Cogdill was on the Elections Committee. The guy was just rock solid. During the final weeks of the election Cox, Cogdill, and Tony Strickland were calm and collected when some other people around the state weren’t… Read More